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"MMORPG"

Inspired by a post I read a few days back on how rubbish Internet gaming is I wanted to let you in on the brilliant potential of MMORPGs. At the moment they are quite good, a novelty maybe more than anything, in the future I think they will represent the pinnacle of computer gaming.

My experiences of MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) are rather limited. In fact, my experiences of Internet gaming are pretty limited too. Sure, I’ve played Half Life and its mods, but always found the majority of players to be Dante Hicks (my Cockney rhyming profanity filter is in full action). Their cries of “U nubie SCUm, DIE at the hands of supr haXor hAlFlIfE-PiMp-RoXoR-|< ][ || G” grew tiresome so I moved on to something a little more laid back – chess. On-line chess, what a dream. Pitting your wits against maybe a Mathematician from Belgium, a Nuclear Physicist in Toronto, or maybe a Taxi Driver from Newcastle. In a certain mood that’s all that’s needed to keep me happy. However, man cannot live by bread alone, sometimes you want a little more glitz and razzmatazz. Enter Asheron’s Call.

Asheron’s Call is still my one and only MMORPG experience (unless you count Phantasy Star On-Line as one, which I don’t). It had been recommended to me by a few of the boys in newsgroup I frequent and in the past we’d played together in a Half-Life clan. With their advice I created my in-game character, consisting picking a number of stats and a trade as well as your physical appearance. These stats then decide on your character’s skills, will he be a physical battler or a wizard? Will a crossbow or sword be favoured and such. As you play you earn experience points and can raise these skills further and earn money to buy more equipment – all the standard RPG elements of levelling up and learning new skills that you’ve seen in Final Fantasy and the like.

So what makes this game different from the aforementioned Final Fantasy? Well, you’re online, all the time. With my piddling 56k modem I was able to be a member of a lag free world containing literally thousands upon thousands of players and at time quite literally jaw dropping scenery. I pledged allegiance to one of my friends who was an experienced player and he took me under his wing. I’ve never met the guy yet I really feel as if I spent hours in his company. He gave me equipment to aid my progression and took me on hunting tours to help my player become stronger. In return for this he earns experience points of his own based on my progression. Other than that, there are also moments that can only be described as Random Acts of Kindness. Numerous times I’ve been on the brink of loosing my last energy when a passer by has decided to cast a healing spell on me, or take out the beastie troubling me. Not only that, I’ve been given riches beyond my lowly character wildest dreams from experienced players I’ve never met before (either in-game or otherwise) who no longer had any need for the particular piece of equipment/cash. All this is made ten times better as I know a real person has decided to do that for me, not some computer generated algorithm. Community is encouraged throughout the game, in fact there are tasks even the greatest player can’t achieve alone. I’ve been in troops of 50 players on a dragon-hunting mission. Without this group the task would never be possible so to progress in the game you need to forge relationships. The computer controls all enemies so it is definitely a them-versus-us situation, and that’s sort of the key to why MMORPGs are so good.

I can’t stress enough that MMORPG is community gaming. Imagine playing Zelda, but every other character in the game is someone else sitting at home playing just like you. To progress you needed to help each other and there are so many tasks to accomplish that there is never the risk of falling over each another. Not only that, but if it took your fancy you could walk into one of the town’s bars and just have a chat to other gamers about gaming matters your “real life” friends don’t appreciate/care about. You could have a pint with someone on the other side of the world, and then go hunting together. “Wait”, you say, “if the big attraction is community why don’t I just go out with my friends, you sad Internet geek”. Can you live in a fantasy world, be it in space, medieval Europe or a fantastical world of magic and demons? Could you use your experience to take command of a troop of other players and go for the Holy Grail? All that limits the genre is computing power and imagination. Whole living, breathing environments could be realized where you could go anywhere and do anything. A freedom beyond current gaming where everything you do has a consequence on thousands of other real life players. Maybe it still all sounds rather “nerdy” when put like that, but there are times when we’re all home alone gaming – why not share and enhance the experience with a vast community of people like you?

Okay then, there are limits to MMORPGs now, number one being bandwidth. You simply cannot create a true on-line world within the limits of a 56k modem. What has been achieved is amazing and the lag problems are nothing compared to what you’d see in a typical game of Counter Strike (due to the nature of the games) but there are still problems. The server you’re on depends on what game area you’re in – so if you have lots of people are in one area lag kicks in. There are also the problems of two hour cut offs etc that occurs in any form of on-line activity at present. Sooner or later Broadband Britain will become a reality and these problems will be wiped out. Accessibility will also rise as more and more people get on-line and become frequent with on-line gaming and that increases the community and brings in new types of games players and developers. Console MMORPGs would make plug and play possible for this genre and then it can really hit mass market.

Console MMORPGs are begging to filter through now, though there are mere pretenders. Phantasy Star Online is a good game, but it is not a proper MMORPG. Sure, you can stand around the lobby area and chat to a few other gamers but when it comes to playing the game proper you’re limited to three companions. Even then the tasks aren’t really wholeheartedly designed for multiplay, as they have to be used to the one-player game to. What we need is a developer with guts to release a proper MMORPG on a console. One designed just for online multiplayer action and where a monthly fee is charged so the game can be constantly updated. Who knows who will do this or when – maybe Final Fantasy X or the next Zelda title. Microsoft expect to have the follow up to Asheron’s Call on the X-Box, so it’ll probably be a race to see if anyone can get there before them. Once consoles start hosting good MMORPGs we’ll see a greater diversity not only in the titles but the players. Console players in general are a more varied bunch due to the cheaper costs and the fact that there is less stigmatism attached to being a console owner than their PC counterparts. These new breed of players will hopefully help to lead the MMOPRG genre away from its traditional Dungeons and Dragons/Games Workshop inspired and slightly wiffy present into a glittering diverse and fresh future.

There is a huge potential spin off from the MMORPG genre that could revolutionize Internet shopping – huge virtual shopping centres. You decide to take a break from the in game beastie bashing and tootle off down the local shopping district. You have a look around and pick a few things, pay for them via credit card and your friendly Postman turns up with them a few days later. Merely a cosmetic change on what’s done now, but it’d still be rather cool! Visit the cinema and have the film piped straight to your TV via that fat broadband connection? Maybe I’m being silly now.

The games developers could continually update these environments so there would always be something new to see or do. Of course, you’d have to pay a monthly membership fee for this, but that’s only fair really! They maintain the servers, fix bugs, monitor the game for cheating and provide new content – worth your cash methinks! Potentially if the game provides diverse enough experiences you may never need another “new” game.

I’m genuinely excited about the prospect of future MMORPGs. There’s one in development based on the Star Wars Galaxy that looks promising, but I’d say we’re at least 20 years away from the sort of all encompassing titles I’m imagining. Oh well, it’ll be something to do in my retirement!

So, MMORPGs, the Future of Gaming or a wild pipedream? What other fantastical ideas do you have for a real-time gaming environment consisting of millions of players?

Does anyone else hear "GAD attempt" :P. Nah only joking Gonzo. It is a good post from what I have read of it. Is Asherons call a game you have to buy or is it available for downloading to play straight away?

(;o|

MMORPG's are definitely a good thing, and more and more traditional games that were previously offline are going that way as well, racing games being one of the genres to get the online treatment recently.

The trick is finding one you like, and you seem to have done that. I've yet to discover an MMORPG that I can get fully involved in and play the way I like playing.

The danger here is that when I do find one that I like I will become totally immersed, being the RPG fan that I am, and never play any other game again, which can quite easily happen.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against them, I just haven't found the right one for me yet. (It hasn't stopped me looking though...)

Having only really got into one MMORPG and briefly skimmed over a few others, I can only comment from my experience that seems rather different from yours. The player killers you mention in Diablo II aren't seen in other games, in my experience for two reasons. In more and more MMORPGs you have a two class of players - Player Killer or Non Player Killer. Player Killers can only kill other Player Killers and you become a Player Killer by getting your character anointed at a special "church" style thing in the game. Other titles have certain areas where you can kill other players, but these are in the minority compared with the areas where you can't. There's also, again in my experience, the fact that most players have a respect for each other not seen in the Half-Life style games i.e. a high level player wouldn't attack a low level one for reasons of fairness.

I don't really understand your comments about server you’re on blocking off where you go. IN every MMORPG I've read about you can walk at free across the landscape. If you so wished you could run from one side of Derth (the AC world) to the other non-stop, it would take a few hours mind! As you run you would automatically change onto different area server, all the player sees of this process is a very brief pause and then you're free to run again for another twenty minutes or so until you reach the next automatic server change. There's also a chat system in place so that you can communicate with people on other area servers. Rally you could play the game for years and never know they existed - I only found this out as I asked an in game mod how such a large world, so full of people was kept lag free.

I have also never felt limited by the time restrictions you mention i.e. having to be on line at certain times to do something. Your clan membership problems are new to me to. While I was a member of a clan through the friends I mentioned in the original post, I never really got involved with it. I played along side small groups of people I knew from newsgroups and such, but never took part in clan rituals. I also met loads of players that didn't even know such clans existed and simply played solo unless someone offered/needed help.

Our MMORPG experiences seem very different. I've always found the community aspect a huge bonus for this sort of game. Plus it can do one thing normal RPGs can't - exist in a continually evolving world. MMORPGs don't have an "ending" as they continually are updated with new towns and objectives. They are also totally non-linear and hence have a freedom no other genre can offer. You can play the games like you want - surely that's a good thing.

Having played a few MMORPG's before, and compared them to pure offline play, I have to say that when it comes to RPG's I prefer the offline gameplay.

The reason being is that when offline, you can do as you wish, you don't need to be online at a certain time to do certain tasks, you can take the game at your own pace, you can kill who you wish, help who you wish, there are no limits to your actions.

With online play, you can be restricted by communities, who develop their own 'Codes of Conduct', who lay down their own laws, you are restricted to certain areas (servers), and (although this could also be called an advantage), in certain games you never know what is around the next corner.

For example, in Diablo II, you can do anything you wish offline, but online, a character 10 times your strength may suddenly decide he's bored and pick a fight with you, and your only option is to either leave the server or risk having your hard built up character destroyed, which is a limitation.

In other communities where this kind of action is frowned upon, the aggressor would be quickly taken out by another clan, thereby ending HIS enjoyment, and so forth.

Because communities are social groups, they often enforce upon MMORPG's social constraints, something which gamers like myself try to avoid when gaming. In essence, it's the whole point of gaming for some people, freedom of will.

For a lone gamer, who likes to be a one man hero, MMORPG's are not really the place to do it.

The Elite On-Line thing has many people world over wetting themselves. Have to admit, while it escaped my mind when posting, it does sound pretty damn exciting. The original was great, but a tad cold. Every other ship being human would dispell this, and you'd get a great community building up in docking stations, discussing their great travels.

There already is a huge Elite on line community. Imagine how much better this would be if they were all in game! If you needed help, tips or good missions to attempt you could just wonder down the interplanitary bar and have a chat with the regulars.

They may also be interesing opportunitys for co-operative play i.e. one player flys the ship, the other navigates and looks after the fire power when needed.

Nice post, I agree with you totally; This is certainly the way forward for on-line gaming.

You may know that Elite IV is under development, though information is scarce it has been suggested (by the developers) that multi player in a large (galaxy large) enviroment will be on the cards.

So as you suggest with you Zelda example, every ship you see will be someone elses baby. Action is not limited to ship to ship combat either, as early art work shows character skins, hinting at some 3rd person perspective roving around as well.

The situations this type of gameplay could be adapted to is huge and once the technology is available to do this without problems (LAG), we will be sorted.

Inspired by a post I read a few days back on how rubbish Internet gaming is I wanted to let you in on the brilliant potential of MMORPGs. At the moment they are quite good, a novelty maybe more than anything, in the future I think they will represent the pinnacle of computer gaming.

My experiences of MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) are rather limited. In fact, my experiences of Internet gaming are pretty limited too. Sure, I’ve played Half Life and its mods, but always found the majority of players to be Dante Hicks (my Cockney rhyming profanity filter is in full action). Their cries of “U nubie SCUm, DIE at the hands of supr haXor hAlFlIfE-PiMp-RoXoR-|< ][ || G” grew tiresome so I moved on to something a little more laid back – chess. On-line chess, what a dream. Pitting your wits against maybe a Mathematician from Belgium, a Nuclear Physicist in Toronto, or maybe a Taxi Driver from Newcastle. In a certain mood that’s all that’s needed to keep me happy. However, man cannot live by bread alone, sometimes you want a little more glitz and razzmatazz. Enter Asheron’s Call.

Asheron’s Call is still my one and only MMORPG experience (unless you count Phantasy Star On-Line as one, which I don’t). It had been recommended to me by a few of the boys in newsgroup I frequent and in the past we’d played together in a Half-Life clan. With their advice I created my in-game character, consisting picking a number of stats and a trade as well as your physical appearance. These stats then decide on your character’s skills, will he be a physical battler or a wizard? Will a crossbow or sword be favoured and such. As you play you earn experience points and can raise these skills further and earn money to buy more equipment – all the standard RPG elements of levelling up and learning new skills that you’ve seen in Final Fantasy and the like.

So what makes this game different from the aforementioned Final Fantasy? Well, you’re online, all the time. With my piddling 56k modem I was able to be a member of a lag free world containing literally thousands upon thousands of players and at time quite literally jaw dropping scenery. I pledged allegiance to one of my friends who was an experienced player and he took me under his wing. I’ve never met the guy yet I really feel as if I spent hours in his company. He gave me equipment to aid my progression and took me on hunting tours to help my player become stronger. In return for this he earns experience points of his own based on my progression. Other than that, there are also moments that can only be described as Random Acts of Kindness. Numerous times I’ve been on the brink of loosing my last energy when a passer by has decided to cast a healing spell on me, or take out the beastie troubling me. Not only that, I’ve been given riches beyond my lowly character wildest dreams from experienced players I’ve never met before (either in-game or otherwise) who no longer had any need for the particular piece of equipment/cash. All this is made ten times better as I know a real person has decided to do that for me, not some computer generated algorithm. Community is encouraged throughout the game, in fact there are tasks even the greatest player can’t achieve alone. I’ve been in troops of 50 players on a dragon-hunting mission. Without this group the task would never be possible so to progress in the game you need to forge relationships. The computer controls all enemies so it is definitely a them-versus-us situation, and that’s sort of the key to why MMORPGs are so good.

I can’t stress enough that MMORPG is community gaming. Imagine playing Zelda, but every other character in the game is someone else sitting at home playing just like you. To progress you needed to help each other and there are so many tasks to accomplish that there is never the risk of falling over each another. Not only that, but if it took your fancy you could walk into one of the town’s bars and just have a chat to other gamers about gaming matters your “real life” friends don’t appreciate/care about. You could have a pint with someone on the other side of the world, and then go hunting together. “Wait”, you say, “if the big attraction is community why don’t I just go out with my friends, you sad Internet geek”. Can you live in a fantasy world, be it in space, medieval Europe or a fantastical world of magic and demons? Could you use your experience to take command of a troop of other players and go for the Holy Grail? All that limits the genre is computing power and imagination. Whole living, breathing environments could be realized where you could go anywhere and do anything. A freedom beyond current gaming where everything you do has a consequence on thousands of other real life players. Maybe it still all sounds rather “nerdy” when put like that, but there are times when we’re all home alone gaming – why not share and enhance the experience with a vast community of people like you?

Okay then, there are limits to MMORPGs now, number one being bandwidth. You simply cannot create a true on-line world within the limits of a 56k modem. What has been achieved is amazing and the lag problems are nothing compared to what you’d see in a typical game of Counter Strike (due to the nature of the games) but there are still problems. The server you’re on depends on what game area you’re in – so if you have lots of people are in one area lag kicks in. There are also the problems of two hour cut offs etc that occurs in any form of on-line activity at present. Sooner or later Broadband Britain will become a reality and these problems will be wiped out. Accessibility will also rise as more and more people get on-line and become frequent with on-line gaming and that increases the community and brings in new types of games players and developers. Console MMORPGs would make plug and play possible for this genre and then it can really hit mass market.

Console MMORPGs are begging to filter through now, though there are mere pretenders. Phantasy Star Online is a good game, but it is not a proper MMORPG. Sure, you can stand around the lobby area and chat to a few other gamers but when it comes to playing the game proper you’re limited to three companions. Even then the tasks aren’t really wholeheartedly designed for multiplay, as they have to be used to the one-player game to. What we need is a developer with guts to release a proper MMORPG on a console. One designed just for online multiplayer action and where a monthly fee is charged so the game can be constantly updated. Who knows who will do this or when – maybe Final Fantasy X or the next Zelda title. Microsoft expect to have the follow up to Asheron’s Call on the X-Box, so it’ll probably be a race to see if anyone can get there before them. Once consoles start hosting good MMORPGs we’ll see a greater diversity not only in the titles but the players. Console players in general are a more varied bunch due to the cheaper costs and the fact that there is less stigmatism attached to being a console owner than their PC counterparts. These new breed of players will hopefully help to lead the MMOPRG genre away from its traditional Dungeons and Dragons/Games Workshop inspired and slightly wiffy present into a glittering diverse and fresh future.

There is a huge potential spin off from the MMORPG genre that could revolutionize Internet shopping – huge virtual shopping centres. You decide to take a break from the in game beastie bashing and tootle off down the local shopping district. You have a look around and pick a few things, pay for them via credit card and your friendly Postman turns up with them a few days later. Merely a cosmetic change on what’s done now, but it’d still be rather cool! Visit the cinema and have the film piped straight to your TV via that fat broadband connection? Maybe I’m being silly now.

The games developers could continually update these environments so there would always be something new to see or do. Of course, you’d have to pay a monthly membership fee for this, but that’s only fair really! They maintain the servers, fix bugs, monitor the game for cheating and provide new content – worth your cash methinks! Potentially if the game provides diverse enough experiences you may never need another “new” game.

I’m genuinely excited about the prospect of future MMORPGs. There’s one in development based on the Star Wars Galaxy that looks promising, but I’d say we’re at least 20 years away from the sort of all encompassing titles I’m imagining. Oh well, it’ll be something to do in my retirement!

So, MMORPGs, the Future of Gaming or a wild pipedream? What other fantastical ideas do you have for a real-time gaming environment consisting of millions of players?